New therapy may treat vitiligo within weeks

Scientists have developed a therapy that may help permanently treat vitiligo -- a disease that causes the loss of skin colour in blotches -- within a few weeks.

In many parts of the world there is great shame and stigma tied to vitiligo, an autoimmune disease of the skin that causes disfiguring white spots, which can appear anywhere on the body.

In some societies, individuals with vitiligo, and even their family members, are shunned and excluded from arranged marriages.

"The rejection is so crippling that one person suffering from the disease even requested an amputation of his forearm affected by vitiligo because he could marry with only one arm, but could not with vitiligo," said John Harris, from University of Massachusetts in the US.

While existing treatments such as topical steroids and light therapy can be effective for patients, they take one and two years to show results. In most cases the white spots reappear at the same location, often within just one year after stopping the